LearnSweden Blog

Swedish Home Cooking

Catarina Lundgren Åström and Peter Åström have written two fantastic and very Swedish books, very well worth buyin! Both filled with inspiration.

                          
They are "Swedish homecooking in America" and "Swedish Christmas in America".
Both books will give you three things, interesting information about food/Christmas, wonderful pictures and last but not least, a bunch of easy recipes. These three things will bring you the feeling of Sweden, and a great array of Swedish food .

     

    

So why not try some of these recipes? .....potato cake, Rhubarb pie, Salmon pudding. When reading the book I can guarantie you that you will become hungry and you soon will end up in the kitchen preparing one of the lovely dishes from inside these books.

  

Christmas is far away now and maybe you think it is to early to read. But there are a lot of recipes there, well worth doing any time of the year, Swedish meatballs, Liver paté or Ris à la Malta.

Here's to good eating. Enjoy!

  

  

  Today's post by Per Svangren

Peter Åström

         

While in New York, I had the opportunity to hear my friend Tonny speak very highly about a couple of Swedish recipe books. Granted, Tonny isn't one to find himself in the kitchen very often, so I duly listened.

It unfolded into a happenstance meeting.........

     

                       

 

  Painter, photographer, author, Peter Åström, kindly invited us to his New York apartment to share the products of his talents. I must tell you that I becamecompletely enamored with his work. Each time I saw a new painting it spoke to me. I have this urge to fill my hallways and wall real -estate with Peter Åström paintings and photos.

      

     

  

Best of all he too has a summer cottage on Gotland, just a few kilometers from my house. So it is decided......we will meet on Gotland this summer to enjoy the fine Swedish light in style and it will also see me buying a few paintings.

       

 

 Born in Stockholm and Peter now  lives in New York City, the Catskills, NY, and on Gotland. Having several exhibitions all over the world , his paintings hang on the walls of many homes and at companies and institutions as well. At the moment ,he has an exhibition in Los Angeles and soon you can see his work in Chicago and at Liljevalchs in Stockholm from October the 2nd, together with Ernst Billgren and Mamma Andersson. Peter is showing paintings inspired by Märta Måås Fjetterström, from Båstad. For more information: http://www.ralphpucci.net/ 

     

Bamse ?

For the love of a new puppy what should we name him ? How about Bamse ?

"Bamse?" said Jenny

                 

Yes friends. This is what happens to Swedish Americans ,they lose touch with the important things in life. So dear sweet little Jenny who doesn't know who Bamse is....here we go.

Bamse is the world's strongest bear. He becomes the world's strongest bear by eating a type of honey called, dunderhonung or thunder honey. Which I might add is prepared for him by his grandmother. So little yum yum Jenny, you must know that if anyone other than Bamse eats this honey they get a 3 day tummy ache.

Bamse is also a very kind bear who often helps those in need.

                               

Just like you Jenny, Bamse has a best bunny friend, his name is lille skutt which means little hop. He is very fast and because he is so quick, he has been given the job of delivering the mail. Not like your rabbit , who eats all of the carrots in Lille's garden. He also frightens very easily and is never very willing to enter into these adventures with Bamse , but he does because he is a good friend. Did I mention that his dogs name is Fuzzy ?

There is a very fun turtle who invents many things, just like grampie. These great inventions include things like spaceships and time machines. He carries everything he needs in his shell. He invented a clock which tells him when to sleep and when to eat. He is very into his routine and even in the middle of an adventure he won't wake up if it is sleeping time. He even plays chess against himself and has beaten the world's best chess player. His name is Skalman, pronounced Shellman.

                                   

At first Bamse was a TV cartoon and a comic strip in the newspaper. Now Bamse has his very own comic books since a very long time. This story has gone on so long that Bamse is now married to his sweetheart,Brummelisa and they have 4 children, Brum, Teddy, Nalla-Maja, and Brumma. Just like Bamse, Lille Skut is married too, to Brummelisa's best friend Nina Kanin. They have this really hyper,fearless child Mini Hopp. He is just too funny in the stories.

                     

There are a few bad guys too....

Croesus Vole
A millionaire with a large number of fixing-voles at his service. He's the worst 'bad guy' in Bamse but, there is never proof that he is behind all the tricks. Only his fixing-voles get caught.

               

The Wolf
In the early episodes, the Wolf was world champion in being bad. Bamse however tried to be nice to him and eventually the Wolf changed. He found that if he acted nicely he got a lot of new friends. His only problem was that he was lonely. Many of the episodes in Bamse are about evil people who are turned good if you are kind to them.

                  

The first issue came out in 1973 in Sweden and has been one of the children's favorite in Sweden ever since. Bamse's father is his drawer Rune Andréasson. Today Runes son Dan also draws Bamse. Nowadays not only children in Sweden can enjoy Bamse, but he's spread all over Scandinavia. The comic is more or less moralizing and teaches the children good behavior and morals.

So Jenny.....I'm looking all through our bookshelves to bring you a copy of Bamse. If you can't wait ,go to Farmor's house and she has a whole bookcase full.

                     

In celebration of Motherhood

In the US it's mother's day. Wishing all of you and your's the very best of times and memories.

                

Nature's Moment

.....there is truly nothing more empowering and breathtaking than viewing nature first hand from a front row seat. Such is what happened to us as we watched a momma fox and her five pups come into "our" collective backyard to share a moment with us.                        

5:30 pm......phone rings, it's little Nic......"foxes in backyard tell your mom to bring her camera."

We ran down the hill very quietly, through the woods, over the log, slid down the mud hill and quietly tiptoed into Little Nics yard.

and there we saw them

             

           

and then

they ran into the forest and the National Geographic Society used their skill to track them out of the yard and up the mountain.

                      

    

With all the researchers behind me, I had a moment to let a little one observe me first. 

                     

Can you see this little fox looking at me ?

                       

                     

and then it scurried into it's den.

                    

The Skorpa Store

The question was a simple one......what would you like from Sweden?  I knew Per was on Gotland when he posed that question so the only thing I could think of was saffrans skorpor. When Per arrived in Savannah, he came bearing two tins of skorpor which his mother-in-law, Christina had made.

                             

There is nothing better than a grandparent making skorpor. It is made with the intention of bringing extreme happiness and I can assure you that this brought me so much edible joy.

           

On the way home I realized that I was in a dilema. I would have to share this most wonderful treat with the family. Little did I know that my children love saffran? Who knew that one could eat saffrans skorpor double fistedly ? ....and please make sure you let the cat have some too. :)

                       

                     

                          

As the tin had less and less skorpor in it Omi was getting as sad as I was that our edible moments were soon coming to an end. "So mom ?.....Why don't you just go to the skorpa store and get some more ?"

"Well we don't have a bakery that makes skorpor." I said very sadly.  As the sound of this left my mouth our friend little Nic walked in the door and tried the last morsel of skorpor. "This is just great". he said. "Where can we buy this stuff ?" As Omi told the story of how there aren't any skorpa stores, Nic had the same idea as Omi. "Let's make a skorpa store. Everybody needs to taste skorpa. Do you have a recipe we could try? "

Why yes I do.........

                            

1 package active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup (1 stick ) butter, melted

1 teaspoon saffron threads (a good pinch or two)

1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom ( optional)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup currants

2 eggs, warmed

4 to 4 1/2 cups flour

1 large egg, beaten

Sugar sprinkles, optional

1 cup raisins (optional)

(similar to Biscotti)
To make the dough: In a large bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water. Add a pinch of sugar. Heat the milk and add the melted butter to it; cool until the mixture is lukewarm.
Pulverize the saffron with 1 teaspoon of the sugar, using a mortar and pestle or with the back of a spoon in a small dish. Add 1 tablespoon of the warm milk-and-butter mixture and allow the saffron to steep for 5 minutes.
Add the saffron mixture, milk-and-butter mixture, sugar, salt, currants and eggs to the yeast. Using an electric blender on medium speed, beat until blended. Add 2 cups flour and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add 2 cups of the remaining flour and mix with a wooden spoon to make a medium-stiff dough. Let dough rest for 15 minutes.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board. Knead for 8 minutes or until the dough is smooth and satiny. Place the dough in a clean, lightly oiled bowl. Turn the dough over to lightly oil the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
To make a braided wreath: Punch the dough down and divide into 3 parts. With the palms of your hands, roll and shape each part into a rope-like strand about 36 inches long. Braid the strands by aligning them vertically and alternately crossing each outer strand over the center strand. Shape the braid into a circle and place on a greased or parchment-covered baking sheet. Pinch the ends together where they meet to seal the strands and to conceal the beginning and end of the braid.
Transfer to the baking sheet. Brush with the beaten egg. Sprinkle with sugar sprinkles if using. Let rise for about 45 minutes or just until puffy.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until lightly browned, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the dough comes out clean and dry.
Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 300 degrees F. Carefully cut each rectangle into 1/2-in. slices. Place slices with cut side down on baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes longer.
Note: To make two smaller wreaths: Divide the dough into 2 parts and braid as above. Place each wreath on a baking sheet, allow to rise and bake for about 20 minutes.

** This authentic recipe is from Beatrice Ojakangas's "Scandinavian Feasts" (University of Minnesota Press)

http://www.beatrice-ojakangas.com/

P.S.  A very large thank you to Christina who sent us the great tasting skorpor. Tusen Tack Christina. After the boys finish with their attempt at making skorpor we will send you some........only if it's edible.

 to be continued........................

         

Sweden's most intelligent festival and Jane Goodall

                         

With hundreds of activities and over 100,000 visitors, the International Science festival in Göteborg is the only one of it's kind in Sweden and one of the msot popular in Europe.

                 

This year's festival is called "Folk Forever". Taking a look at civilizations across history and borders. It's about each one of us, individually and collectively. It's about people,places, and things we didn't know existed. During the festival ,Göteborg is filled with activities, experiments, workshops, as well as, engaging interactive exhibitions for people of all ages.

        

Kicking off the festival is world reknown scientist and world conservation lobbyist Dame Jane Goodall, who has spent over 40 years of her life studying wild chimpanzees. She has fundamentally changed the way we view primates and our relationship with the animal kingdom. Recently, Dr. Goodall has turned her attention to an incredibly important and personal issue--taking a stand for a more sustainable world. In her book Harvest for Hope, Dr. Goodall takes a provocative, encouraging look at re-examining the food we consume and gives us easy do-able solutions for creating a positive change.

     

Dr. Goodall will be speaking from 12:00 to 13:00 in Nordstan. For further information about Dr. Jane Goodall and the Jane Goodall Institute please have a look here and for more information about the most incredible science festival anywhere have a look here.

            

Here is a Television 4 Nyhetsmorgon interview that Dr. Goodall did in the fall of 2008.  It is in Swedish. Not to feel left out I will leave you with something truly special. A beautiful view into the life and love of Dr. Jane Goodall. It's inspiring so don't miss it.

               

Today's photos are from the Vetenskap photo bank and stock photos of Jane Goodall.